Good Wednesday evening. In this edition: House approves resolution to halt Iran war, advances Ukraine bill; and Senate begins debate on ICE and Border Patrol funding bill.
Plus, midterms, Pelley, Alabama map and federal workers.
Iran & Ukraine Wars
The House approved a resolution directing President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran unless he receives congressional authorization, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to the president and his handling of the war.
The vote was 215–208, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in favor: Reps. Tom Barrett (MI), Warren Davidson (OH), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) and Thomas Massie (KY).
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who had previously opposed similar efforts, flipped his vote in favor.
It marks the first time an Iran war powers resolution has passed the House after three previous failed attempts and comes as the war has grown increasingly unpopular with the American people.
The vote was scheduled to take place before lawmakers left town for the Memorial Day recess, but House GOP leaders pulled it from the floor when it became clear they did not have the votes to block it.
Still, the House vote is largely symbolic because the measure would still have to pass the Republican-controlled Senate and would almost certainly face a presidential veto.
The White House argues the 60-day clock to seek congressional authorization for the war has been paused by the teetering ceasefire that took effect in early April.
It also views the War Powers Act as an unconstitutional constraint on executive power, a position taken by numerous administrations since its enactment in 1973 over President Richard Nixon's veto.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that the war with Iran was "over" despite the absence of a peace agreement and continued exchanges of fire between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran struck Kuwait's international airport Wednesday, killing one person and wounding dozens of others, with Tehran calling the attack retaliation for U.S. strikes.
The regime also launched missiles and drones at Bahrain, saying it was targeting the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
Secretary Rubio told a House panel Wednesday that he was referring to "Operation Epic Fury," the intense bombing campaign early in the conflict, being over after successfully achieving its objectives.
The Senate last month advanced a separate war powers resolution, with four Republicans joining all but one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (PA), in favor on the chamber's eighth such vote.
However, three senators were absent, and the measure is not expected to be approved with full attendance.
It's unclear when the Senate will vote on the House-approved resolution.
Separately, the House voted 218–204 to advance a bill providing additional aid to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia, another rebuke of President Trump and House GOP leadership.
Republican leaders had sought to prevent the measure from reaching the floor, but their hands were forced when Rep. Gregory Meeks's (D-NY) discharge petition reached the 218-signature threshold.
Six Republicans — Reps. Don Bacon (NE), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Mike Lawler (NY), Michael McCaul (TX), Max Miller (OH) and Joe Wilson (SC) — and independent Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA) joined all Democrats in advancing the measure.
The bill would authorize about $1.8 billion in direct spending and more than $8 billion in financing and loans to Ukraine while extending the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2027, allowing the U.S. to send weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles.
It also includes a broad package of sanctions targeting Russia's oil and gas sector, the country's primary source of wartime revenue, and would eliminate a sanctions waiver President Trump approved earlier this year.
The measure is also largely symbolic because it would face an uphill climb in the Senate and a likely veto from President Trump, who does not want his hands tied as he seeks to negotiate directly with Moscow.
The Senate officially began debate on a long-awaited reconciliation package funding the nation's immigration enforcement agencies after the Trump administration's "anti-weaponization" fund threatened to derail the measure.
The procedural vote was 53–46, along party lines, with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) missing the vote.
The filibuster-proof bill would provide about $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), enough funding to run through the remainder of President Trump's term.
Republicans chose to fund the agencies through the cumbersome reconciliation process after Democrats refused to provide funding without reforms to immigration enforcement operations.
The bill does not include the $1 billion in security funding for the Secret Service, as requested by President Trump as part of his East Wing ballroom project.
President Trump set a June 1 deadline for lawmakers to get him the bill, but a planned vote last month before the Memorial Day break was called off amid fierce GOP opposition to administration's planned $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday assured lawmakers that the administration was fully abandoning the idea of the fund, seeking to assuage Republicans' concerns about the roundly criticized program.
Nevertheless, a handful of Republican senators want to see the fund's demise codified as part of the reconciliation bill and have threatened to oppose final passage unless it does.
Sens. Bill Cassidy(R-LA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have both filed amendments related to the fund, and Democrats are expected to force their own votes on the issue.
Feeding their concerns, President Trump cast doubt in the Oval Office on whether the fund was permanently on ice, telling reporters "I love it" and "it's so important" while bashing the federal judge who temporarily blocked it from moving forward.
Asked whether the fund was dead or just on pause, the president said, "I'd have to ask the lawyers, I don't know."
Fifty Republican votes will be needed to pass the reconciliation bill, meaning Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) can afford to lose only three members of his conference.
Asked about Sen. Tillis suggesting that he won't vote for final passage unless it includes language killing the fund, Sen. Thune told reporters, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Assuming the Senate clears it following the upcoming vote-a-rama, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is planning hold a House vote on Friday morning.
Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, favored by Senate Democratic leadership, easily defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls in Tuesday's Democratic U.S. Senate primary in the Hawkeye State. He will face Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) in the highly watched race to succeed retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). In the gubernatorial contest, Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA), backed by President Trump, narrowly lost to Republican Zach Lahn, who will face Democrat Rob Sand in November. In California's gubernatorial race, Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra are leading in the nonpartisan "jungle primary," in which the top two finishers advance to the general election. And after failing to secure an outright majority, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) is heading to a runoff against either Republican Spencer Pratt or Democrat Nithya Raman.
CBS Newsfired longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday, a day after he confronted the show's new executive producer, Nick Bilton, during a heated staff meeting, deepening turmoil at the nation's premier newsmagazine. "Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you," Mr. Bilton said in a letter informing Mr. Pelley that he was being fired "for cause." In response, Mr. Pelley blasted the company's new direction under Bari Weiss following the Paramount Skydance takeover. "Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause," he wrote. "Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos."
The Supreme Courtcleared the way for Alabama Republicans to use a 2023 congressional map that a lower court last week said was "tainted by intentional race-based discrimination" in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. The decision will allow Republicans to eliminate one of the state's two majority-Black districts held by Democrats. In an unsigned opinion, the high court's conservative majority said the lower court's three-judge panel failed to apply the new standards justices set forth in their landmark April decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act. The court's three liberal justices dissented.
President Trumpsigned an executive order to turn an estimated 8,000 federal workers into at-will employees, allowing the government to fire them without providing a reason. Almost all those affected are at the highest level of the civil service, known as GS-15, including leaders of policy offices, their chiefs of staff, program managers, and senior public affairs officers. The order is part of a broader effort to downsize the federal workforce and realign it with the administration's goals. The Office of Personnel Management initially said as many as 50,000 workers could be shifted into the so-called "Schedule Policy/Career" category, but the executive order applies to a narrower slice of the workforce. Those shifted to the new category will still be considered career and nonpartisan employees but will lose rights to adverse-action procedures and appeals, speeding up a potential termination process.
For your radar…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies Thursday before the House Ways and Means Committee. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 10am ET.
